Easily the most stunning result in the seven Derby Day stakes was the 4 3/4-length romp on the sloppy track by Funny Duck, a 39-1 shot, in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile. The Distorted Humor colt was racing on dirt for the second time and recording just his second win from seven overall starts.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Yoshida, who came off a seven-month layoff to win Saturday’s Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, will be pointed to the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes on June 19 at the Royal Ascot meet.
Yoshida is a Japanese-bred son of Heart’s Cry out of the U.S. Grade 1-winning mare Hilda’s Passion. Yoshida, trained by Bill Mott, has four wins and three seconds from eight starts.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fresh off a Kentucky Derby weekend that neither will ever forget, trainers Brad Cox and Steve Asmussen already have returned to their daily routines for the balance of the Churchill Downs spring meet.
Cox, a Louisville native, enjoyed the greatest victory of his career when Monomoy Girl held off Wonder Gadot in the Kentucky Oaks on Friday. Less than 24 hours later, Asmussen sent out the 8,000th winner of his Hall of Fame career when Lookin At Lee won the third race on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
Ax Man and Core Beliefs are expected to be flown to New York on Wednesday from Southern California to run in Saturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park.
Ax Man, trained by Bob Baffert, and Core Beliefs, trained by Peter Eurton, will head a field of eight expected for the 1 1/8-mile race, which typically produces runners for the Belmont Stakes on June 9.
Ax Man, a half-brother to the champion Indian Blessing, has won two of three starts. On Monday, he worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 at Santa Anita.
One Go All Go is a throwback, a horse who runs hard and runs often.
On Saturday, the front-running One Go All Go will make his sixth start of the year and eighth in 21 weeks when he runs in the Grade 1, $700,000 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park.
One Go All Go broke a 12-race losing streak when he recorded a gate-to-wire victory in the Grade 2 Elkhorn April 21 at Keeneland. In his five prior starts, One Go All Go finished second four times, three in graded stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The Grade 1 winner Mo Town suffered an injury while training last week and has been retired, trainer Tony Dutrow said Monday.
Mo Town, who won the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby last November at Del Mar, was diagnosed with a torn suspensory ligament in his left foreleg following a routine gallop over the Belmont main track.
“It’s a loss to all involved and to the sport that we didn’t get to see a proven horse race any further,” said Dutrow, whose Team D Stable owned Mo Town with the Coolmore connections of Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Fault extended her winning streak to three races in Sunday’s Grade 3 Adoration Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.
After Sunday’s race, trainer Phil D’Amato said two Grade 1 races for fillies and mares are being considered for her next start – the $400,000 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita on June 2 or the $750,000 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park on June 9.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Eric Kruljac has been suspended 15 days and fined $3,000 after one of his starters at Santa Anita in February tested in excess of the permitted level of total carbon dioxide, according to a ruling released on Sunday by the board of stewards.
The penalties were part of a stipulated agreement between the California Horse Racing Board and Kruljac, the ruling stated.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A low-key Thursday program at Santa Anita will be an important day for jockey Rafael Bejarano, who returns to riding after having been sidelined for about seven weeks with a wrist injury.
Bejarano, who has not ridden since March 18, said last weekend that he is ready both physically and mentally to resume riding.
Last week, Bejarano was cleared by doctors to resume exercising horses.
Earlier this spring, Bejarano spent time in his native Peru, visiting friends and family.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A mandatory payout of a Single 6 carryover pool of $385,132 will be available to horseplayers Thursday when Churchill Downs begins the post-Kentucky Derby segment of its 38-day spring meet with an eight-race twilight card.
